Game Terminology

The Old Republic is rife with MMO jargon that will certainly lose newbies. Let’s start with frequently used terminology that will help you understand the chatter that occurs in general chats. These terms are not unique to The Old Republic and have been around since the days of Everquest and Ultima Online.

Shorthand for a monster's "aggression" and is used to describe the threat level of a party member.

Tank

A person assigned to contain and focus the target's wrath upon himself. This assignment is generally reserved for classes with high armor and defense stats, and abilities that increase his survivability against heavy damage.

Buff

A beneficial effect, or the act of giving yourself or an ally a beneficial effect. Things like Mark of Power, a Sith Inquisitor buff can be both a self and party-wide buff.

Debuff

Conversely, this is a negative effect that adversely affects your character in different ways, depending on the kind of debuff. Usually, these involve lowering stats, movement impediments, reducing efficacy of certain abilities. etc.

Crowd Control

(CC)

The act of keeping enemies indisposed for a period of time by one of many disabling effects, such as sleep, paralysis, stun, etc.

Flagged

This means a player is enabled for PvP combat, usually indicated by a red name (if enemy) or green (if ally) instead of a blue name, which signifies neutrality.

Pull

The action of triggering the fight and bringing (pulling) the enemies to you.

Looking For Group. Use this when you are looking for an existing group of like-minded adventurers.

LFM

Looking For Member. This is usually for a pre-existing group looking for more members to fill out the rest of the troupe.

PST

Please send tell (or whisper).

GTG

This can mean one of two things: Good to go or got to go, depending on the context.

OMW

On my way.

AFK

Away from keyboard. This initialism is reserved for onerous players that aren’t even at their computer.

There will be many, many other initialisms that will undoubtedly be unfamiliar to you as you progress through the game. Players tend to be lazy when referring to Flashpoints. More likely than not, many of the Flashpoints will be shortened using the first letter of each word in the name. For example, The Black Talon is known simply as BT.

Can't find the term you're looking for here? Check out the Acronyms and Terms page for a more in-depth guide on the terminology used within Star Wars: The Old Republic and similar games.